The Premise. The printer has resisted the march of technology fairly well. The bulky, heavy devices have remained so as everything becomes mobile, and their feature set hasn’t changed much in the last twenty years. It’s time the printer made the jump into the smart age.

The Product. The PPrintee is a mobile printer that looks a bit like an original-model iPod and is just as pocket-friendly. With a display that can manage print jobs but also tell the latest news, weather, and social media updates while idle, the PPrintee is not just a one-trick pony. When it’s time to print, the PPrintee drives around the page determining the dimensions of the paper, and then drives around the page printing material at a rate of 1.5 pages per minute. If a job requires more than one page, PPrintee will even drive around looking for another piece of paper to print on or request that another paper be provided. Multiple PPrintees can even be synced together to complete a job more quickly. PPrintee is compatible with Android, iOS, and Windows devices and jobs can be sent to the printer through wifi or Bluetooth to begin printing right away. The PPrintee can even be steered through the app to provide a printed signature or special touch on any job.

The Pitch. PPrintee is so early in development that sadly any shots of the printer in action are CG simulations of what to expect from the device. Still, its flexibility and ability to handle more than just simple mobile printing are exciting enough to warrant further consideration. PPrintee wants to collect $330,000 in funds to continue engineering the product and bring it to the public.

The Perks. The basic black PPrintee printer is available for $249 and is expected to release in August 2015. The white and orange models cost slightly more, while limited aluminum, titanium, and rounded PPrintee designs are available starting at $299 to launch a month later.

The Potential. Mobile printing is not a new concept, and devices like the Pocket Printer are already looking to revolutionize the market. While the PPrintee lacks the robotic whimsy of the Pocket Printer, it makes up for it in spades in terms of additional features. From the interactive screen display to the app that can send print orders to the printer to the planned color printer/scanner PPrintee planned later, the PPrintee looks to be better choice. The wait for this device is long enough however that a major printer manufacturer may just beat it to market.